PC Gamers- doesn't it bother you that you dont 'own' games on Steam?

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Mr Happy

Weaksauce
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Jul 19, 2013
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113
Hello

I have recently got into PC gaming after years of console gaming.

PC gamers tend to talk about having cheaper games than consoles/better graphics/better frame rates etc etc etc

One thing that never really gets mentioned, but concerns me is that you don't 'own' the game.

What I mean is this- PC gaming is done via Steam and unlike buying physical discs for consoles, you are tied to Valve's T&C's and DRM.

Does this concern any of you PC gamers?

thanks

EDIT: I have just remember, didn't Microsoft try to implement Steam style DRM on Xbox One games(correct me if im wrong), and there was a huge backlash from gamers causing MS to change the policy....but PC gamers have not made such a fuss about DRM on PC gaming
 
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Yes, but you really don't get the concept of hivemind, do you? Posts on forums are often more extreme than reality. Otherwise, according to [H], Nintendo was dead, last year.
 
Mr Happy said:
Hello

I have recently got into PC gaming after years of console gaming.

PC gamers tend to talk about having cheaper games than consoles/better graphics/better frame rates etc etc etc

One thing that never really gets mentioned, but concerns me is that you don't 'own' the game.

What I mean is this- PC gaming is done via Steam and unlike buying physical discs for consoles, you are tied to Valve's T&C's and DRM.

Does this concern any other PC gamers?
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Nope.
 
Back when the service started as Half Life 2 was released (2004), I had reservations.

Since around 2008 though, I buy on Steam whenever possible.

No concerns whatsoever.
 
The big issue that people had on XB1 was the tying of games to XB1 accounts, which yes is similar to how Steam operates.

However people on consoles want the capacity to buy/sell/trade and there really isn't a content reason to not allow customers to do so, except to increase or attempt to increase profit margins. It also had a practical problem of not allowing people to bring games to friends houses without changing logins and all sorts of other problems and issues.

Steam of course is selling convenience and a direct distribution model. I think people wouldn't have as big of an issue as they do with titles being attached to accounts if two things happened: #1: every game must be backwards compatible for eternity. #2 XBox Live (or other manufacturer equivalents) didn't cost money.

Steam is a non-issue because the PC gaming library rarely if ever isn't backwards compatible. Steam itself costs nothing. Your account is free. Also the cost is generally lower per game on Steam (unless purchased at or before launch. The cost portion DOES matter as value or perceived value is important to establish for something you can never sell to someone else). So there are major differences.
I would generally say that people trust Valve more than they do Microsoft. Microsoft has a history of bad policy making, especially in regards to gamers (GFWL as a recent example).
 
we don't own anything but the right to use licence. that is what we really are buying.
 
I remember thinking Steam was totally creepy

something something about frog boiling
 
One of the few risks Steam has against it's revenue is pissing off the quite vocal community. It keeps them from doing anything stupid.

I love steam. What you speak of is of absolutely no concern to me.
 
As long as Gabe is alive, you probably won't be screwed over, but it sets a bad precedent in the industry. Your rights to your games are slowly eroding away. Now everyone else tries to do it and see what they can get away with. Don't like a forum post? Bye game.. Login to play single player? Always on? Even if steam doesn't. But they will cram an unwanted game update down your throat. Hopefully it's not broken and mess with your saves, regardless of fake offline mode (aka nag mode).

To me, Steam is ok, but that's all they want from you. Unless you can get a game on GOG, everyone has their fingers in your computer. It will only increase.
 
Parmenides said:
Your rights to your games are slowly eroding away.
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You never really had any rights when it came to PC games, it's just with the internet publishers have found a way to enforce your lack of rights.

As for whether it bothers me? Yeah it does. Not enough to keep me awake at night and not enough to stop me getting a game I want unless the DRM it really abhorrent. It seems like the industry is moving past activation limits and that was one of my more hated forms of DRM.
 
Parmenides said:
As long as Gabe is alive, you probably won't be screwed over, but it sets a bad precedent in the industry. Your rights to your games are slowly eroding away. Now everyone else tries to do it and see what they can get away with. Don't like a forum post? Bye game.. Login to play single player? Always on? Even if steam doesn't. But they will cram an unwanted game update down your throat. Hopefully it's not broken and mess with your saves, regardless of fake offline mode (aka nag mode).

To me, Steam is ok, but that's all they want from you. Unless you can get a game on GOG, everyone has their fingers in your computer. It will only increase.
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I hope that GOG Galaxy becomes a success; it has no DRM
 
No, because Steam and PC Digital Distribution in general has a different social contract dictating that in exchange for giving up possibility of resale and somewhat specious notions of "ownership", I'm getting vastly improved convenience and lower costs out of the deal.
 
Mr Happy said:
EDIT: I have just remember, didn't Microsoft try to implement Steam style DRM on Xbox One games(correct me if im wrong), and there was a huge backlash from gamers causing MS to change the policy....but PC gamers have not made such a fuss about DRM on PC gaming
Click to expand...

Yeah, this was the lie they propagated so they wouldn't seem so bad, when in reality their DRM was absolutely nothing like Steam at all. So, no, MS did not try "Steam style" DRM, they tried their own and spread the lie that it was "like Steam", so the less informed wouldn't mind their brand of DRM. Good riddance for all that.
 
Remember, with Steam you can log into any PC. Go over to your friends house? Download the game on their PC to play with them... although downloads are large these days so it might be a pain. But possible. That was the main issue with the XB1 if I recall.
 
Flogger23m said:
Remember, with Steam you can log into any PC. Go over to your friends house? Download the game on their PC to play with them... although downloads are large these days so it might be a pain. But possible. That was the main issue with the XB1 if I recall.
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Yup.
I played HalfLife in Alaska, back in 2004. CounterStrike, in Brazil, back in 2009. All my account.
Any computer, anywhere in the world.
Got a friend come over? Introducing them to a new game you can play together? Need the same game files? Copy them from your box to theirs and log in. Steam automatically picks it up and we are playing together within 5-10 minutes.

MS tried to pull a fast one on gamers, but apparently gamers know how to use the internet and talk.
 
The bottom line is that Steam and Valve have a good relationship with the gaming community. There are not many people who think that Valve would take away their ability to play these games in the future. Technically it is possible but it would be very unwise and would burn a massive amount of goodwill and destroy their credibility.
 
Only thing I don't like is downloading Gigs of data. Some of these modern games are huge and my internet connection isn't the fastest.
 
No. I'm not some paranoid nut job that thinks everyone's after me to steal my games.
 
There is nothing owned in this world for civilians. We borrow it off of the elite for a price.
 
Nope, doesn't bother me.

You buy a movie on DVD and watch it at least once (maybe even twice). Would it bother you if a thief steals that DVD but nothing else?
 
Yup, bothers me which is why when possible I buy my games elsewhere. Unless the EULA changed, after you die the games are non-transferable and cannot be transferred to someone else as an inheritance. Sure you can probably work around it, but that would technically be illegal and at some point the age numbers won't add up anymore.
 
Sort of, but one has to remember that most games are played once and then left alone forever. Even good games. Few oddballs like Skyrim (because of mods) or VtM:Bloodlines (mods and a good game with variables) aside, of course.

And now you can buy many older games from GoG later DRM-free if you get hankering for nostalgia gaming as well.
 
Yakk said:
Yup, bothers me which is why when possible I buy my games elsewhere. Unless the EULA changed, after you die the games are non-transferable and cannot be transferred to someone else as an inheritance. Sure you can probably work around it, but that would technically be illegal and at some point the age numbers won't add up anymore.
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Somehow I think if you're passing on 20 year old games, there's going to be very cheap alternatives and/or they won't even want to play those games.
 
Now that cart media is effectively dead no, theres no nostalgic reason to care. I buy games at the price I feel is right for me to wanna play them once and then I dont care. I will say I bought my copy of counter-strike:source in december of 2004. One sec...yep still launches.
 
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Yeah, lets get real here: Any piece of software wherein you have to 'agree' to a EULA does not belong to you. You do not own it. That goes for the OPERATING SYSTEM ON YOUR CONSOLE as well. Yep, that's right. you own the hardware, but the vendor can legally brick the console, and you 'agreed' to it on day-1 setup of your console. so really, we dont own a whole lot of what we think we own. Thats the world we live in. I can either kick and scream, or I can just 'deal with it' and live a happier life.
 
Yeah it bothers me. That's why whenever possible I always buy the GoG version. Most will not have issues with Steam, but it only takes one experience of having all your previously purchased and installed games no longer work (albeit temporarily while dealing with a couple of weeks of email support) to see how craptastic it can be.
 
It bothers me, so if it were to ever to be "revoked" I'd pirate the shit out of all the games I " don't own."
 
Read your EULA, you don't own any software and you never have. You don't own Windows, you don't own Microsoft office, you don't own anything you haven't coded yourself. Software, movies, games etc. are always built on a licensing model.
 
It doesn't seem to bother to many people when you consider how many people have Steam. And how many of those members have more then 100 games on Steam. I have about 254 games and my best friend has over 1200. Just think there are members with well over 2000 games.
 
It doesn't bother me, but then I wait until the games are cheap enough it doesn't matter.
 
The last few discs I bought still left me downloading large parts of the game anyways. So I just gave up and only buy digital now. CIV IV is the 1 game I would keep if I were to lose all but one. I have that on disc and no internet connection is needed to install and play that.
 
Dan_D said:
Read your EULA, you don't own any software and you never have. You don't own Windows, you don't own Microsoft office, you don't own anything you haven't coded yourself. Software, movies, games etc. are always built on a licensing model.
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Forgive my ignorance but....

I already knew that I dont "own" the Windows OS that I use, and also most software on my PC.

As far as games go, I have physical disc versions of console games which I have bought over the past two decades- I didnt code them myself, but I thought that I do "own" them....

Movies you say? So I dont "own" the blu ray disc movies that I have...?
 
You don't own the game itself even if you have a physical copy of it. You are still bound by the license to not try to copy or modify the game in any way. Discs have DRM and a license you agree upon when you buy it. You own the physical distribution of the media, but not the media itself.
 
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